Historic Dahlstrom Ranch Conservation Easement Finalized

A conservation easement of historic proportions was purchased in the heart of the Texas Hill Country only a short drive from the Capitol of Texas. Hays County, the City of Austin, and the Hill Country Conservancy (HCC), with funding from the federal Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), came together to purchase a conservation easement on the historic Dahlstrom Ranch, a 2,254-acre privately-owned holding located outside of Buda. This rare collaboration between a private landowner, county, federal agency, and city took shape in 2007 and will be the first private land preservation agreement of its kind. The privately-owned ranch will have the unique distinction of providing a 384-acre area for public education and nature programs proposed by a public access committee led by the National Parks Service and managed by Hays County.

“Through this conservation easement, Gay Dahlstrom, in partnership with Hays County, as guided by Precinct 2 Commissioner Jeff Barton, NRCS, HCC, the City of Austin and many others, has ensured that a majestic piece of the Texas Hill Country will not only survive, but allow our native wildlife and natural resources to thrive,” said David Braun of Braun & Associates, attorneys for Gay Dahlstrom. “Gay is an exceedingly modest and private person, but today she and her family have set a proud and important example for all conservation-minded Texas landowners.” The family’s history on the property dates back five generations. The Dahlstrom Ranch on Onion Creek has played an impressive role in Hays County’s heritage. The property also plays a key role in the area’s overal well-being thanks to its abundant aquifer recharge. The historic ranch features an impressive system of caves and sinkholes that directly convey clean water to the aquifer. Also, following a reduction in livestock grazing in 2005, the ranch’s wildlife habitat and native grasses have staged a welcome comeback.

In recent years, the Dahlstroms, like many other Texas families, were faced with the decision on whether to begin selling off their land to developers in order to pay estate taxes. Gay Dahlstrom chose to preserve the family’s heritage and legacy, retaining Braun & Associates to guide her through the process of obtaining a conservation easement that enabled her family to keep the ranch intact. This contract between property owner and conservation organization, while providing critical tax incentives, also allows the owner to protect the water resources, wildlife habitat, natural character, and other conservation values of the land. A conservation easement restricts the amount and type of development allowed on the property, and conveys the right to enforce these restrictions in perpetuity, while preserving the right to traditional agricultural uses and limited residential use.

“This partnership provides multiple benefits, keeping this land intact for the family’s ongoing use and enjoyment while preserving the unique caves and other karst features of the ranch and furthering enhancement of its ecology and wildlife”, said Frank Davis, Director of Land Stewardship at HCC.

“I am very pleased we are able to partner with Hays County and Hill Country Conservancy on this important project,” said City of Austin Mayor Lee Leffingwell, a longtime supporter of the use of voter-approved bonds designated for the acquisition of open space.  “As our region continues to grow, it is important that we lead in the effort to protect our natural resources, and acquisitions like this one ensure we are doing our part to protect and enhance our environment, particularly our water quality, and the heritage of the Aquifer region and Texas Hill Country.”

Gay Dahlstrom’s son, Jack Dahlstrom Jr., has plans for ecotourism and nature and wildlife-related art exhibits on the property, with the ultimate goal to further the community’s understanding of, and respect for, the area’s heritage and environment. The Dahlstrom family has a long-term plan for continuing to restore the land and its native wildlife.
“At the end of the day, my mother did this because she loves this land and appreciates all that it has given us,” said Jack Dahlstrom Jr. “Now, it’s our family’s turn to give back to the land, and we appreciate the efforts of everyone who worked so hard to help us make that happen.”

Land Report 100: No. 62 Clayton Williams Jr.

OF THE COUNTRY’S 100 LARGEST LANDOWNERS, FEW ARE AS COLORFUL AS CLAYTIE.

A passionate approach to land stewardship is but one of Clayton Williams’s claims to fame. The diehard Texas Aggie is a born entrepreneur whose many pursuits have ranged from insurance salesman to banker, farmer, rancher, real estate developer, big-game hunter, philanthropist, conservationist, and, at one pivotal point in his career, front-running gubernatorial candidate. And like any self-made man, he can ride out tough times with the best of them—even down to his last bullet.

Williams’s trailblazing traits date to his colorful forebears, who mixed it up with the likes of Kit Carson, Billy the Kid, and Geronimo. The native Texan was born in Alpine in 1931 and raised in Fort Stockton. After attending Texas A&M and fulfilling his military obligations, he cut his teeth selling life insurance in Mineral Wells. But fate called him back to West Texas, where in a Fort Stockton coffee shop he learned about a farm for sale. He struck a deal with its owner to form an oil and gas partnership, and the cornerstone of his career was set. From that small start, his financial empire eventually grew to include a host of companies, from cow-calf operations to a safari company to several entities bearing the ClayDesta moniker, a nod to himself and wife Modesta.

It was in Modesta that the wildcatter found a soul mate who shared his love of the land and sense of adventure. In his book Claytie: The Roller-Coaster Life of a Texas Wildcatter, Mike Cochran describes Williams’s run as “an exciting mix of hard work and great fun, building pipelines and drilling wells one day and branding calves and working cows the next—all embellished with a spectacular marriage. Claytie and Modesta really are bigger than life.”

After an unsuccessful run for governor of Texas in 1990, Claytie turned his considerable energies on going public with Clayton Williams Energy Inc. (CWEI). With an estimated net worth of $100 million, his name was added to the Forbes Four Hundred. Today, he is a fixture on the Land Report 100 and ranked No. 62 in 2009 with 146,655 acres. During the past decade, CWEI has drilled 167 horizontal wells, mostly in the Austin Chalk formation as well as the Cotton Valley Reef in Texas, in Louisiana, in Mississippi, and in New Mexico.

“Claytie is, by all measures, one of a kind,” says Cochran. “He’s an absolutely wonderful character. With his ranch he’s been really innovative and was recognized nationally for some of the innovations to trap water and to get the best use of the land.”

Ask the Expert: Andy Smyth

Andy Smyth is a straight-speaking man, runs a great brokerage business in Idaho, and has become a good partner with The Land Report. Andy recently told me that after experiencing a downward period in the land market the likes of which he’s never seen before, he is finally seeing signs of things turning around for land deals in his neck of the woods.

We asked Andy if he would mind us picking his brain a little bit, and he obliged.

Land Report: What got you into the land business, and how long have you been at it?

Andy Smyth: I was born into it. My great-grandfather Smyth sold his farmland near North Platte, Nebraska and moved to the Boise Valley in 1905. He, my grandfather, my father, and I farmed in this valley from then until the spring of 2008, when I retired from active farming after 34 years. My endeavor in real estate marketing began about 12 years ago as a diversification to my farming business. It seemed a natural outgrowth to my many years of involvement in various agricultural organizations and community service organizations throughout the state of Idaho.

Land Report: What’s are the biggest changes you have seen in your 12 years of marketing property?

Andy Smyth: The first was the run-up in land values beginning in the mid-‘90s that lasted until about the first half of 2008. The second was the decline in activity from then until very recently. During the first period I referred to, it was fairly easy to move land parcels. Since the end of ’08 and beginning of ‘09, it has become very difficult to move large parcels. It now requires a high level of persistence and focused advertising to attract interested buyers with the ability to “write the check.”

Land Report: You mentioned to me the other day that the market seems to be on the up-tick in your area. What are you experiencing?

Andy Smyth: In the last month, mid August until today, I have received more inquiries than I received since the first of the year. I have had several investor groups contact me with inquiries about large parcels. I have had numerous individuals inquire about agricultural properties for investment and primary use purposes. I have had two ranch showings in the last 10 days and another scheduled for the end of this week. I have had four inquiries in the last 24 hours. I have not closed a deal as a result of this activity, but if this rate of inquiry continues, there is bound to be a resulting close coming. I am confident.

Land Report: Tell us about some of your top current listings.

Andy Smyth: I have a number of ranch/recreational/investment quality properties available.

- A 6,080 deeded acre parcel within 1.5 hours of Boise is an exceptional property offering outstanding hunting of all types. It contains 700 acres BLM permanent lease acres adjacent. It is one contiguous parcel in a private setting. Year-round stream, 300-acre reservoir within 1/4 mile of boundary. No buildings.

- A 1,700 deeded acre parcel, offering adjacent permanent lease land access to an additional 5,600 acres. This is a beautiful parcel offering timber at higher elevations and year-round streams. Home, shop, etc.

– 2,646 deeded acres. 1,640 acres BLM permanent lease adjacent. 2 mile by 2.5 mile parcel running to the top of an 8,748 foot peak. Great hunting, access. Irrigation well. Home, shop, etc.

Pictures, more information on these parcels, other available properties at www.smythfarms.com

Land Report: What do you consider your unique strengths as a listing broker?

Andy Smyth: My many years as an active, full-time farmer myself, allows me to fully understand the elements involved in selling the family farm or ranch. I am able to empathize in a way that some brokers can’t. My priority as the listing agent is to protect the interests of the party selling their ranch or farm. I spend the money required to advertise in a way that many brokers do not. Representing the type of property that I do, requires a willingness to advertise in venues where the folks who have an interest in this type of property and who can “write the check” may be found. Not all brokers do this.

That’s why I advertise in The Land Report. It’s an invaluable tool in securing new listings. It is an impressive, high quality publication. When a potential listing client sees my ads in recent issues of The Land Report, it is obvious to them that my commitment to represent their property in a serious way is beyond question.

Land Report: From the buying side, what does your brokerage offer newcomers to your markets?

Andy Smyth: I come from a world where a person’s word is their bond. My role, as someone helping a potential customer select a property, is to provide honest, straightforward information. My responsibility is to provide correct, unbiased answers to their questions so they can make an informed decision regarding what is in their best interests. I take my role and responsibilities very seriously.

My long history in the circles of the ranch and farm community can be very helpful. There are often properties which may be for sale that are not listed or being actively marketed. I also offer financing sources for folks who may not be able or want to write a check for the full amount at closing, but who may have the ability to secure financing for this type of property.

Sold! Steamboat’s Perry Ranch

A well-known Rocky Mountain landmark, Colorado’s 470-acre Perry Ranch, sold for $11 million ($23,000+ per acre). The sellers paid $13 million for the Routt County ranch in 2007 intending to improve it and then market it as a conservation development property, but last year’s recession squelched those plans. Hall & Hall’s Brian Smith in Steamboat Springs represented the seller. Tim Casey of Mountain Marketing Associates in Breckenridge represented the buyer. The transaction closed on June 30.

The original asking price of $25 million dropped to $19.5 million and then to $16 million last year when the economy tanked. “This sale is very indicative of what we’re now seeing: 15 to 25 percent off market highs,” says Smith, referring to the spread between the sellers’ purchase price in 2007 and the 2009 sale.

“Buyers who are not trying to pinpoint the bottom of the market can find all sorts of opportunities. A lot of sellers, particularly those with a higher basis in a property, are recognizing current market conditions and adjusting their asking price,” says Smith. “What made this property such an outstanding opportunity was the size of the parcel and its proximity to downtown Steamboat Springs. The south fence line is literally one mile to the city limits. One minute you’re tucked away by yourself in a lush little valley with aspen groves and Soda Creek. Hop in your truck and five minutes later you’re on Main Street. Best of both worlds. It’s extremely difficult to find that combination near a resort town, whether it’s Steamboat, Vail, Aspen, Telluride, Jackson, or Sun Valley.”

Foreign Investors Own Major Stake in Maine

Foreign investors own an interest in 21.2 million acres of U.S. forest and farmland, an amount that equates to just under 1 percent of all the land in the U.S. Every one of the 50 states as well as Puerto Rico has foreign ownership, but far and away the largest concentration was in Maine with 3,323,846 acres (16 percent of the national total). Forest and timberland accounted for more than 3 million of those acres with Canadian companies the leading landowners.

The figures were compiled by the Farm Service Agency from filings required by the Agricultural Foreign Investment Disclosure Act of 1978 and are available in this handy 178-page report.

For Sale: Split Rock Ranch

As previously reported, the Bell Ranch is the largest piece of property for sale in the United States today. At more than 290,000 acres, the massive holding would instantly qualify its new owner(s) for inclusion on The Land Report 100.

But what about the second largest land listing? I did a little digging and came up with a much different type of landholding: the 193,000-acre Split Rock Ranch in south central Wyoming, which is listed with Ranch Marketing Associates.

This is a much different transaction. First off, only 16,000 acres of the ranch are deeded. The rest is BLM, state, and private leases. The second proviso is that the $14 million purchase price is for a 50 percent interest. The remaining 50 percent interest would be owned by a silent partner.

Split Rock is a working cattle ranch and runs 2,400 pair, plus 600 yearlings. It features 12 miles of Sweetwater River on the property. This isn’t the sort of property a weekend warrior need consider.

That’s not to say a little fun couldn’t be had on the property like trout fishing in the Sweetwater or world-class hunting for elk, deer, and antelope.

Partner Profile: Holistic Management International

Peter Holter and the fine folks at Holistic Management International (HMI) are valuable partners of The Land Report. We believe in their mission, and once you learn more about them we think you will be supportive as well.

HMI is a non-profit based in Albuquerque that dates back to 1984. Its goal is to restore damaged grasslands while positively impacting land health and productivity. HMI has done this with public land, communal lands, and on private property not just in the U.S. but around the world.

Recently, while on a call with Peter, he told me about an HMI client in West Texas. In 1999, Chris and Laura Gill and their family bought the Circle Ranch in Hudspeth County. They considered the 32,000-acre, high-desert property an investment, and they wanted to improve it through increased wildlife habitat, health, diversity, and number.

After exploring a wide variety of tools to improve their ranch, the family found what they consider to be a sound process by utilizing a planned grazing approach advocated by HMI.

“I was anti-cattle and thought desert grasslands could best be restored by de-stocking,” Gill says. That changed when he learned about HMI planning and practices. Holistic Planned Grazing is “all about getting animals to the right place at the right time for the right reason.” The right reason is to improve desert grassland ecology by concentrating cattle herds, rather than dispersing them, which is the norm in conventional desert range management.

“This intense grazing,” Gill explains, “must always be followed by long-enough periods without grazing to allow complete plant and soil life recovery.” This high-concentration, long-recovery is better for plants since it mimics the natural behavior of large herds of wild herbivores in the presence of their predators, who existed on grasslands and high deserts for millennia until humans arrived.

Gill reports strong, positive results from using planned grazing over the past decade. The animals usually graze about half the ranch, moderately, as the rest recovers from grazing during the previous year. “We have experienced huge gains in stocking rate and range productivity,” while at the same time, achieving “consistent improvements in habitat, which we measure by changes in forage production.”

Bottom line? Thanks to Holistic Management, the Circle Ranch almost tripled its forage production over five years. These Texas landowners increased productivity and wildlife habitat 35 percent or better on an annual basis.

For Sale: Bell Ranch Gets Bigger

The biggest ranch on the market in America just got bigger. The heirs of William Lane, who assembled New Mexico’s Bell Ranch 40 years ago, have elected to include an additional 40,100 acres of canyon country and pastureland in the offering, which now totals 290,100 contiguous deeded acres or 453 square miles. Carrying capacity for the ranch is 5,000AU.

The new price for the Bell is $103 million – $99 million for the land and $4 million for the livestock and equipment – or $341 per acre, according to the Orvis/Cushman & Wakefield website. The price represents a 22 percent reduction below the original asking price. Contact John Watson or Rye Austin at 888-541-4300 for additional details.

Property Details include:

290,100(+/-) deeded acres in northeastern New Mexico featuring Bell Mountain, a dramatic butte punctuating the landscape.

Located east of Santa Fe primarily in San Miguel County.

The Canadian River flows through the ranch for over 13 river miles.

Ranch is adjacent to 9,600-acre Conchas Lake with lake house and boat storage.

Carrying capacity for cattle operation is 5,000AU.

Headquarters includes general manager residence, ranch offices, stables, barns, garage and storage facilities.

10,832-square foot, 8-bedroom Hacienda with swimming pool and tennis court.

Four cowboy camps across the property.

Bell Ranch airfield has storage for 100LL avgas and a large hangar for its 8,200′ x 75′ lighted dirt airstrip.

Largest Drop in Rural Land Prices Worldwide? The Ukraine

According to this ABC Australia report, land values around the world are plummeting. The hardest hit country? The Ukraine.

The value of rural land in the Ukraine has plummeted a staggering 75 percent. The Australian news report indicates that the basics of the problem are the same there as everywhere else: thanks to the credit crisis the previously well-lined pockets of investors are no more. The report also references, but does not detail, a 5 percent drop in land values for the United States and Great Britain.

By the Numbers: Rancho Sisquoc

Only The Land Report can offer an exclusive look at this historic, 38,000-acre California landmark in the high mountains of Santa Barbara County as Land Report Editor Eric O’Keefe interviews Jim Flood. Read more

Next Page »